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THE  EVIDENCE  THAT 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  WAS  NOT  BORN  IN 
LAWFUL  WEDLOCK,  OR 


THE  SAD  STORY  OF  NANCY  HANKS. 

PREFACE. 

As  a  rule,  the  public  does  not  inquire  into  the  motives  of 
an  author.  They  presume,  and  correctly,  that  he  works  as 
other  men  do,  for  reward,  or  the  hope  of  reward.  But 
there  are  exceptions,  and  perhaps  the  present  product  may 
be  among  them.  The  question  may  be  significantly  asked: 
"For  what  purpose  was  this  booklet  written." 

Now,  the  writer  would  respectfully  request  of  the  public 
not  to  be  over  hasty  in  imputing  a  base  motive  where  other 
motives  may  be  reasonably  supposed.  He  has  no  spite  to 
gratify  either  against  the  living  or  the  dead,  nor  has  he 
ever  had  cause  to  entertain  such  a  feeling.  If  his  individual 
opinion  about  Mr.  Lincoln  be  worth  anything,  he  regards 
him  as  second  to  no  President  in  love  of  country  or  in  per 
sonal  int%rity;  as  inferior  to  Jefferson  in  philosophic  in 
sight  and  to  Jackson  in  firmness  and  self  reliance ;  but  above 
them  all  in  the  profound  depth  of  his  human  sympathy  and 
in  his  Christ  like  spirit.  The  unfortunate  circumstances  of 
his  parentage  and  birth  can  not  affect  his  character  or  the 
esteem 'and  reverence  in  which  his  memory  is  justly  held. 
According  to  St.  Matthew's  gospel,  the  lineage  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  traced  through  Tamar,  Ruth,  Rachab  and  Bath- 
sheba^C  How,  then,  can  any  dishonor  attach  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
or  his  progeny  by  reason  of  the  frailty  of  Nancy  Hanks? 

WM.  M.  C,  Dallas,  Texas. 
INTRODUCTION. 

Written  history  is  mostly  lies.  Thucidides  and  Walpole 
affirmed  it.  Reading  and  experience  justify  it.  The  world 
sees  the  puppets  dance ;  it  can  not  get  behind  the  curtain  and 
witness  the  handling  of  the  wires  that  move  them.  The 
history  of  the  Lower  Empire  is  a  record  of  the  intrigues  of 
eunuchs  and^trumpets.  For  a  century  prior  to  1789  the 
history  of  France  is  an  outcrop  of  lewd  desire  of  men  in 
high  places  and  the  jealousies  and  rivalries  of  court  ladies 
dominated  by  the  amiable  vice.  The  Buckinghams  and 
Nell  Gwins  shaped  the  policy  of  England  during  a  critical 
period  of  her  history.  The  great  religious  reformation 
in  that  country  owed  its  being  to  the  hot  lust  of  a  greasy 


king.  Cromwell  was  looked  upon  as  a  hypocrite  until  Car- 
Ivle  rehabilitated  him  as  an  honest  man.  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
life  of  Napoleon  was  written  to  tickle  English  ears  and 
make  nionev.  Motley  is  worm  eaten  with  religious  and 
political  prejudice,  and  his  productions  smell  of  the  office 
seeker.  Truth  most  yield  to  Hume's  toryism,  and  facts  are 
not  permitted  to  spoil  the  brilliant  antithises  of  Macaulay. 
Almost  every  one  believes  that  Judge  Taney  said :  "The 
negro  has  no  rights,  which  the  white  man  is  bound' to  re 
spect,"  when  he  said  no  such  thing  or  any  thing  like  it. 
It  has  been  pounded  into  us  from  infancy,  that  the  Pilgrim 
Father's  fled  to  Xew  England  and  braved  the  perils  of  the 
wilderness  to  escape  persecution  and  for  the  privilege  of 
worshiping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own 
conscience.  Not  one  in  a  hundred  thousand 
of  the  so-called  cultured  classes  knows  the 
fact,  that  the  voyagers  in  the  May  Flower 
enjoyed  the  amplest  religious  liberty  in  Holland ;  that  they 
abjured  their  faith  in  the  hope  that  by  so  doing  they  would 
received  permission  from  the  British  government  to  settle 
in  Virginia;  that  when  permission  was  refused  they  sailed 
like  Buccaneers,  intending  to  squat  on  the  Dutch  lands  of 
Manhattan,  and  where  egregiously  dismayed  when  they 
found  themselves  thrown  on  the  bleak  shores  of  Cape  Cod. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Robinson  is  pictured  in  the  primary  his 
tories  in  the  garb  of  an  angel  and  with  the  countenance  of  a 
saint,  pronouncing  a  blessing  upon  the  seventeenth  century 
carpet-baggers  on  their  departure  from  Delft  Haven ;  and 
the  pupils  and  readers  are  not  told  that  this  man  recanted 
his  professed  religious  belief  for  a  consideration,  and 
yelped  in  the  pack  of  Maurice's  dogs  that  hounded  the  aged 
and  virtuous  Barnveldt  to  his  death.  The  school  children 
are  not  informed  that  Robinson's  famou>  "Farewell  Sermon" 
i-  a  f<>rger\  1,\  ( ;<  »\ .  \Yinslo\v.  which  is  the  fact.  The  pious 
ly  inclined  are  edified  with  the  story  of  General  Washington 
praying  at  Valley  Forge,  when  Washington  was  an  agnostic 
like  Jefferson  and  Paine,  and  would  as  soon  have  thought 
of  praying  privately  for  success  in  battle  as  to  pray  for  his 
man  to  knock  the  other  fellow  out  in  a  prize  fight.  Thus 
are  the  innocents  befooled  and  befuddled. 

Not  only  are  they  deceived  in  the  domain  of  history,  and 


for  a  purpose,  but  their  holiest  emotions  are  exploited  for 
profit.  Patriotism  is  a  factor  on  the  stock  exchange. 
The  enthusiasm  for  the  flag  is  booked  into  the  reserve  fund,, 
and  the  flag  itself  is  entered  as  a  commercial  asset.  When 
the  big  traders  want  a  war,-  the  fighting  population  are  saw- 
dusted  with  patriotic  airs  from  brass  bands,  heart-rending 
eloquence  from  the  platform,  and  the  igncs  fatni  of  home 
and  country.  "God  and  humanity"  is  always  invoked  when 
ever  a  special  raid  on  the  treasury  is  in  contemplation,  and 
the  bigger  the  steal,  the  more  prolonged  and  intense  is  the 
invocation.  "The  extension  of  Christian  civilization"  is  the 
Macedonian  cry  when  the  object  in  view  is  to  loot  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico  and  butcher  the  Filipinos  struggling  for  inde 
pendence.  Thus  are  the  hireling  scribes  corking  up  history 
and  pasting  on  the  labels,  just  as  Maine  menhaden  and 
Jersey  cider  are  marked  French  sardines  and  Veuve  Cliquot. 

The  easy  explanation  of  all  this  is,  that  it  does  not  put 
money  in  the  purse  to  tell  the  truth  when  it  runs  against  the 
grain  of  popular  prejudice  or  prevailing  sentiment.  Lies 
yield  a  greater  profit ;  hence  business  methods  demand  that 
lies  be  told,  and  they  are  told. 

The  foregoing  reflections  niay  serve  to  show  how  diffi 
cult  it  is  to  get  a  hearing  before  the  American  people  for 
any  allegation  that  would  seem  to  cast  a  reflection  upon  Mr. 
Lincoln's  reputation  in  any  possible  way.  The  man  was  so- 
pure  in  his  integrity,  so  devoted  to  his  duty  as  he  saw  it, 
and  with  all  so  kind  of  heart  and  so  genial  in  nature,  that 
any  proposition,  which  would  appear  to  derogate  from  the 
love  and  honor  in  which  his  memory  is  held,  is  condemned 
beforehand  as  false,  if  not  malicious.  His  apotheosis  has 
finally  determined  every  possible  issue  in  his  favor  and 
there  is  no  longer  place  for  investigation.  Enquiry  in  this 
direction  is  not  tolerated,  nor  is  any  evidence  admitted 
however  overwhelming  may  be  its  weight.  Prejudice  and 
popular  sentiment  are  too  strong  to  allow  impartial  trial  of 
a  question  which  the  general  ignorance  supposes  touches 
his  name  and  fame.  The  witnesses  however  trustworthy 
are  turned  down  and  the  clamor  of  the  great  mass  carries 
the  day. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  one  of  the  world's  great  men  and  his  his 
tory  belongs  to  the  world  at  large.  Fortunately,  the  mate- 


rial  for  his  biography  can  not  be  cornered  and  monopolized. 
Kvery  event  of  his  life  is  a  public  inheritance  for  mankind 
and  must  be  so  considered  and  treated.  Especially,  and 
for  many  reasons,  should  the  story  of  his  origin  and  birth 
not  be  smothered,  but  be  transmitted  to  posterity  in  their 
unvarnished  reality.  And  to  do  this  is  not  only  the  undoubt 
ed  right,  but  the  duty,  if  you  please,  of  the  critic  of  popular 
history. 

I. 

All  that  we  know  about  President  Lincoln's  parentage 
and  birth,  under  his  own  hand,  are  two  brief  records;  the 
one,  an  entry  in  the  Bible  in  his  own  handwriting,  that  he  was 
born  on  the  I2th  of  February,  1809;  and  the  other,  a  bit  of 
autobiography,  which  he  gave  to  Mr.  Jessie  R.  Fell  in  De 
cember,  1859,  for  a  campaign  sketch,  in  which  he  said  that 
his  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia. 

There  are  but  two  biographies  of  Mr.  Lincoln  .which  cast 
any  light  uponfliis  subject;  and,  best  of  all,  they  are  by  far 
the  more  reliable.  The  first  of  these  is  that  of  Mr.  Ward 
H.  Lamon,  who  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  law  partner  at  Danville 
and  Bloomington.  Besides  his  own  opportunities  for  in 
formation,  Mr.  Lamon  had  the  advantage  of  the  material 
collected  by  Mr.  Herndon.  Mr.  Herndon  had  been  the 
partner  and  intimate  associate  and  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  the  material  which  he  placed 
at  Mr.  Lamon's  disposal  consisted  of  three  enormous  vol 
umes  of  original  manuscripts,  gathered  from  all  sources  at 
the  cost  of  much  time,  labor  and  expense,  and  criticized 
with  the  care  of  a  lawyer  accustomed  to  weigh  and  esti 
mate  testimony.  The  second  book  referred  to  is  the  biog 
raphy  by  Mr.  Herndon  himself. 

When  not  otherwise  indicated,  these  two  works  are  the 
authority  for  every  direct  statement  of  facts  made  in  this 
paper.  The  italics  here  used  are  not  in  the  original,  but 
employed  as  a  convenient  method  by  the  writer  to  call  at 
tention  to  some  special  matter. 

II. 

It  is  agreed  on  all  sides  that  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  but  little, 
and  cared  still  less,  about  his  family  history,  and  that  he 
sedulously  avoided  anv  reference  to  it.  It  is  certain  that 


he  is  mistaken,  if  he  is  correctly  quoted,  when  he  said  that 
both  his  parents  were  born  in  Virginia. 

The  name  of  his  reputed  father,  was  Thomas  Linkhorn, 
or  Linkern,  (for  it  is  found  spelled  both  ways).  It  was 
first  changed  by  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  to  "Lincoln,"  and  it 
may  be  added  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that,  taken  in  connect 
ion  with  other  facts  in  this  history,  this  change  of  name 
may  not  be  without  its  significance.  Why  should  he  bear 
the  name  "Linkhorn,"  if  that  person  were  not  his  father? 
Then,  again,  the  simplicity  of  his  character  will  not  allow 
us  to  suppose  that  he  refused  the  name  of  his  own  father 
and  assumed  a  loftier  sounding  one  from  petty  vanity. 

Wherever  Nancy  Hanks  may  have  come  from,  it  is  be 
yond  doubt,  that  the  father  of  Thomas — for  whom  some 
writers  have  forged  the  Christian  name  of  Abraham — mi 
grated  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky,  and  that  Thomas  was 
born  in  the  last  named  state. 

III. 

Widespread  traditions  exist  that  the  son  of  Nancy  Hanks 
was  not  a  legitimate  child. 

Writing  upon  this  subject  Mr.  Herndon  says : 

"Regarding  the  paternity  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  a  great  many 
surmises  and  a  still  larger  amount  of  unwritten,  or  at  least 
unpublished,  history  has  drifted  into  the  currents  of  West 
ern  lore  and  journalism. 

"A  number  of  such  traditions  are  extant  in  Kentucky  and 
other  localities.  Mr.  Weik  has  spent  a  considerable  time  in 
investigating  the  truth  of  a  report  current  in  Bourbon  coun 
ty,  Kentucky,  that  Thomas  Lincoln,  for  a  consideration 
from  one  Abraham  Enlow,  a  miller  there,  assumed  the  pa 
ternity  of  the  infant  child  of  a  poor  girl,  named  Nancy 
Hanks;  and  after  marriage  removed  with  her  to  Harclin 
county. "Mr.  Herndon  adds  that  a  gentleman  of  Mt.  Ster 
ling,  Kentucky.,  who  had  been  judge,  and  afterwards  was 
an  editor,  published  a  paper  in  support  of  this  contention. 

The  allegations  and  arguments  of  this  paper  are  nc£given 
further  than  to  say  that  the  paper  alleged  a  resemblance  be 
tween  Inlow  (Enlow)  and  Mr.  Lincoln  in  facial  and  physi 
cal  features,  in  extraordinary  stature  and  length  of  limb. 

Herndon's  reply,  however,  is  feeble.  He  says  the  Bible 
record  shows  that  Abraham  was  the  second  child. 


a 

In  reply  to  Mr.  iierndon  it  is  tu  be  remarked,  that  this 
I'.ible  record,  made  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  contained  no  en 
try  of  the  birth  or  marriage  of  his  mother ;  and  in  regard 
to  Abraham  being  the  second  child,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  entries  were  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  long 
years  after  the  events  recorded,  and  admitting  for  a  mo 
ment,  that  he  was  illegitimate,  and  that  he  knew  it,  it  was 
a  pious  act  in  him  to  cover  his  mother's  shame  as  far  as  in 
his  power  to  do  so,  by  making  his  sister  older  than  himself 
in  the  Bible  record. 

IV, 

There  is  also  an  account  given  by  Lamon  of  a  collision 
between  Thomas  Linkhorn  and  Abraham  Enlow,  or  Inlow. 
which  has  its  significance.  Mr.  Lamon  says:  "They 
ft  night  like  savages;  but  Lincoln  (Linkhorn )  obtained  a 
>ignal  and  permanent  advantage  by  biting  off  Enlow's 
nose."  "This  affray  and  the  fame  of  it,"  continues  Lamon, 
"make  Lincoln  (Linkhorn)  more  anxious  than  ever  to  es 
cape  from  Kentucky."  We  are  left  to  form  our  own  con 
jectures  about  the  origin  of  the  quarrel ;  no  cause  is  as 
signed.  Hut  is  not  this  desperate  affray  a  powerful  cor- 
roboration  of  the  tradition  that  an  illicit  relation  existed,  or 
was  supposed  by  Linkhorn  to  have  existed,  between  Xancy 
Hanks  and  Enlow;  and  may  we  not  presume  that  the  fight 
was  about  her?  And  was  not  the  increased  desire  of  Link- 
horn  to  get  away  from  Kentucky  owing  to  the  fact  that  he 
felt  himself  disgraced  by  the  publicity  given  to  the  scandal 
by  his  fight  with  Enlow?  Is  this  an  unreasonable  suppo 
sition?  Does  it  not,  on  the  contrary,  serve  to  fill  out,  ex 
plain,  bring  into  harmony,  and  strengthen  the  other  tradi 
tions  relating  to  President  Lincoln's  birth  ? 

Linkhorn  did  not  remove  from  Kentucky  to  fly  from 
slavery  and  locate  in  a  free  state  where  toil  was  honorable. 
as  narrated  by  the  romancers;  for  lie  was  no  toiler;  but, 
fr«»m  all  accounts,  an  ignorant,  shiftless  vagabond.  Be 
sides,  there  was  not  at  that  time,  fifty  .slaves  in  the  comity; 
his  more  fortunate  relatives  were  slave  owners,  and  there 
is  no  reason  in  supposing  that  he  differed  in  opinion  from 
other  men  of  his  class,  of  Southern  birth.  This  story  of  his 
desire  to  escape  from  a  land  of  slavery  is  of  a  piece  with 
those  fictions  which  describe  the  Linkhorn  tumble-down 


shanty,  fourteen  feet  square  in  an  Elizabethtown  alley, 
where  the  inmates  lived  in  squalid  poverty,  as  a  frugal  Chris 
tian  home ;  the  father  a  gallant  frontiersman  and  the  moth 
er  a  Roman  matron  of  the  wilderness.  One  estimable  New 
England  lady,  not  satisfied  with  tracing  the  blood  of  the 
Hanks  to  the  Saxon  Kings  of  England,  carries  it  back  to 
the  Egyptian  dynasties,  because  in  the  old  Egyptian  lan 
guage  she  says  there  is  a  word,  "and"  (Hank)  meaning- 
soul  ! 

V. 

Nancy  Hanks  is  described  as  being  a  beautiful  girl,  with 
pleasing  manners,  slender  and  symmetrical  form,  and  above 
the  ordinary  height ;  a  brunette  with  dark  hair  and  soft  ha 
zel  eyes,  and  a  high  intellectual  forehead.  It  is  further  re 
marked  of  her  that  she  always  wore  a  marked  melancholy 
expression  which  fixed  itself  upon  the  memory  of  everyone 
who  knew  or  saw  her.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  if 
she  was  possessed  of  this  melancholy  disposition  before  her 
marriage,  and  if  so,  when  or  how  it  originated. 

VI. 

The  reticence  of  Mr.  Lincoln  about  his  mother  has  been 
alluded  to.  Mr.  Lamon  says :  "While  he  seldom  if  ever 
spoke  of  his  own  mother,  he  loved  to  dwell  on  the  beautiful 
character  of  Sally  Bush." 

Young  Abraham  Lincoln  was  ten  years  old  when  his 
mother  died.  The  dearest  and  sweetest  memories  and  as 
sociations  which  remain  of  a  mother  in  after  years  are  those 
which  are  fixed  within  the  first  ten  years  of  life.  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  nature  was  deeply  affectionate.  Why,  then,  this 
strange  silence  in  regard  to  his  own  mother  and  the  lavish 
ing  of  all  his  affections  on  his  stepmother,  Sally  Bush  ?  Mr. 
Lincoln  aspired  to  position  in  social  as  well  as  political  life ; 
and  it  may  well  be  that  a  knowledge  of  his  mother's  frailty 
and  his  own  origin  (probably  told  him  by  his  stepmother) 
cast  upon  him  that  pall  of  melancholy  which  shadowed  all 
his  life. 

In  the  autobiography  which  Mr.  Lincoln  gave  to  Fell,  he 
disposes  of  his  mother  in  three  lines,  giving  neither  her 
Christian  or  maiden  name,  and  saying  she  came  of  a  family 
of  the  name  of  Hanks. 


10 

VII. 

Sally  Brush  first  brought  sunshine  into  young  Lincoln's 
life.  She  was  a  kind,  good,  and  noble  woman;  devotedly 
attached  to  her  step-son,  and  he  no  less  devoted  to  her.  He 
always  spoke  of  her  in  after  life  as  his  "saintly  mother,"  his 
"angel  mother;"  and  yet,  she  did  one  thing  which  is  utterly 
inconsistent  with  her  character  unless  an  explanation  can 
be  given.  She  changed  the  name  of  the  girl,  who  had  been 
named  Nancy,  after  her  mother,  to  Sarah.  Unaccounted 
for,  this  was  a  mean  and  contemptible  act.  Why  should 
not  the  child  be  permitted  to  bear  her  mother's  name?  If 
Sally  Bush  had  some  good  reason  to  obliterate  from  the 
child's  mind,  as  far  as  possible,  all  recollections  of  her 
mother,  then  her  conduct  is  in  keeping  with  her  character; 
otherwise  it  is  not.  Her  singular  silence,  too,  in  all  that 
related  to  Nancy  Hanks  when  Mr.  Herndon  visited  and  in 
terviewed  her  after  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln 
is  an  additional  ground  for  the  belief  that  she  held  the 
key  to  the  secret. 

VIII. 

Mr.  Herndon  says:  "There  was  something  about  his^Lin- 
coln's)  origin,  that  he  never  cared  to  dwell  on." 

After  his  nomination  for  the  presidency,  Mr.  J.  L. 
Scripps,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  went  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
asked  for  material  for  a  history  of  his  life.  Mr.  Lincoln 
replied  that  it  was  folly  to  attempt  to  make  any  thing  out 
^f  his  early  years.  Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
Scripps  wrote  to  Mr.  Herndon  as  follows:  "He  (Mr.  Lin 
coln)  communicated  some  facts  to  me  concerning  his  an 
a-try  which  he  did  not  wish  to  be  published  then,  and 
which  I  have  never  spoken  of  or  alluded  to  before." 

What  these  facts  were,  Mr.  Scripps  did  not  tell  even  to 
.Mr.  Herndon,  who  had  been  Mr.  Lincoln's  most  intimate 
friend,    and    who    was    then    collecting    material    for    his 
.tpliy.  f'§ 

How  the  silence  of  Mr.  Scripps  under  the  circum 
stances  to  be  accounted  for?  On  one  ground  only,  the 
o  mmunications  must  have  been  of  such  a  nature  that  an 
h<  norable  man  could  not  use  them  without  permission. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  dead,  and  Mr.  Scripps  died  without  re- 
11^  t IK-HI.  Was  this  the  secret? 


II 

IX. 

The  treatment  of  young  Lincoln  by  his  mother's  hus 
band  requires  explanation.  Cruelty  is  not  a  trait  of  such 
indolent,  happy-go-lucky,  contented  tramps  as  Thomas 
Linkhorn  is  represented  to  have  been.  Col.  Chapman,  who 
knew  as  much  about  the  family  as  any  one  outside  of  its 
circle,  and  who  had  possession  of  the  Bible  containing  the 
records,  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Lamon,  as  saying :  " Abe's  father 
habitually  treated  him  with  great  barbarity."  Can  his  treat 
ment  of  the  boy  be  connected  with  his  "savage  fight"  with 
Abraham  Enlow  and  a  knowledge  that  the  boy  was  not  his 
child? 

X. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  Hanks'  were  low  and 
ignorant  people.  Mr.  Herndon  quotes  from  a  manuscript 
of  Mr.  J.  B.  Helms  in  which  it  is  said:  "The  Hanks  girls 
were  great  at  camp-meeting."  Mr.  Helms  then  proceeded 
to  relate  a  scene  of  which  he  was  an  eye  witness  at  Eliza* 
bethtown,  and  in  which  one  of  the  young  ladies  of  the 
Hanks  family  figured  conspicuously.  He  writes: 

"I  remember  one  camp-meeting  in  1806.    A  general  shout 
was  about  to  commence.    Preparations  were  being  made.    A 
'  young  lady  invited  me  to  stand  on  a  bench  where  we  could 
see  all  over  the  altar.     To  the   right,   a   strong  atheletic 
young  man,  about  twenty-five  years  old,  was  being  put  in 
trim  for  the  occasion,  which  was  done  by  divesting  him  of 
all  apparel  except  shirt  and  pants..     On  the  left,  a  young 
lady  was  being  put  in  tune  in  much  the  same  manner,  so 
that  her  clothes  would  not  be  in  the  way,  and  so  that  when 
her  combs  flew  out,  her  hair  would  go  into  graceful  braids. 
She,  too,  was  young,  not  more  than  twenty.     The  perform 
ance  commenced  about  the  same  time  by  the  young  man 
on  the  right,  and  the  young  lady  on  the  left.     Slowly  and 
gracefully  they  worked  their  way  towards  the  center,  sing 
ing,  shouting,  and  hugging  and  kissing,    (generally  their 
own  sex)  approaching  each  other  nearer  and  nearer.     The 
center  of  the  altar  was  reached,  and  the  two  closed  with 
their  arms  around  each  other,  the  man  singing  and  shouting 
at  the  top  of  his  voice : 


12 

"1  have  my  Jesus  in  my  arms, 
Sweet  as  honey,  strong  as  bacon  hams." 

"Just  at  this  moment,  the  young  lady  holding  my  arm 
whispered,  'They  are  to  be  married  next  week ;  her  name 
is  Hanks.'" 

Mr.  Herndon  says  he  did  not  learn  whether  the  lady 
performer  was  the  President's  mother  or  not.  "The  fact 
that  Nancy  Hanks  did  marry  that  year,"  gives  color,  he 
thinks,  to  the  belief  that  it  was  she.  He  does  not  think,  how 
ever,  that  her  hugging  partner  was  Thomas,  because  such 
a  deed  required  an  enthusiasm  and  a  dash  beyond  the  ca 
pacity  of  that  inert  individual. 

XL 

There  was  undoubtedly  irregular  blood  in  some  of  the 
Hanks  women.  Mr.  Herndon  says  he  has  the  written  state 
ment  of  Denis  Hanks,  the  son  of  an  aunt  of  the  President's 
mother,  that  he  came  into  the  world  by  nature's  back  door. 

We  give  in  Mr.  Herndon's  own  words  what  Mr.  Lincoln 
told  him  about  his  mother.  Mr.  Herndon  says  (Chapter  I, 
page  3)  : 

"It  was  about  1850.  when  he  and  I  were  driving  in  his 
one-horse  buggy  to  the  court  in  Menard  county,  Illinois. 
The  suit  we  were  going  to  try  was  one  in  which  we  were 
likely,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  touch  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  hereditary  traits.  During  the  ride  he  spoke  for  the 
first  time  in  my  hearing  of  his  mother,  dwelling  on  her  char 
acteristics,  and  mentioning  and  enumerating  what  qualities 
he  inherited  from  her.  He  said  among  other  things  that  she 
was  the  illegitimate  daughter  of  Lucy  Hanks,  and  a  well- 
bred  Virginia  farmer  or  planter:  and  he  argued  that  from 
this  last  source  came  his  power  of  analysis,  his  logic,  his 
mental  activity,  his  ambition  and  all  the  qualities  that  dis 
tinguished  him  from  the  other  members  and  descendants 
nf  the  Hanks  family.  His  theory  in  discussing  the  matter 
of  hereditary  traits  had  been,  that  for  certain  reasons  illeg 
itimate  children  are  often-tiines  sturdier  and  brighter  than 
those  /'or;/  /';/  lawful  ?ccd-lock :  and  in  his  case  he  believed 
that  his  hi'tUT  nature  and  finer  qualities  came  from  this 
broad-minded  unknown  Virginian." 

Mr.   Herndon  continues:     "The  revelation — painful  as  it 


13 

was — called  up  recollections  of  his  mother,  and,  as  the 
buggy  jolted  over  the  road,  he  added  ruefully,  'God  bless 
my  mother ;  all  that  I  am,  or  ever  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  her,' 
and  immediately  lapsed  into  silence. 

"Our  interchange  of  ideas  ceased,  and  we  rode  for  some 
time  without  exchanging  a  word.  He  was  sad  and  absorbed. 
Burying  himself  in  thought,  and  musing,  no  doubt,  over 
the  disclosure  he  had  just  made,  he  drew  round  him  a  bar 
rier  which  I  feared  to  penetrate.  His  words  and  melancholy 
tone  made  a  deep  impression  on  me.  It  was  an  experience  I 
can  never  forget." 

This  is  one  of  the  "rare  occasions"  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
made  mention  of  his  mother.  His  exclamation  of  pity  for 
her  is  suggestive  of  what*  was  going  on  in  his  mind.  His 
melancholy  silence  is  even  more  so.  His  mother's  mother 
had  sinned,  had  his  own  mother  sinned  in  like  manner,  and 
did  he  know  it? 

XII. 

And  now  the  scene  changes  and  the  curtain  rises  on  an 
other  act  of  the  eventful  drama. 

Mr.  James  H.  Cathey,  of  North  Carolina,  has  published 
a  volume  of  185  pages,  in  which  he  claims  Mr.  Lincoln  for 
his  own  state.  And,  mirabile  dictu  !  another  "father  Abra 
ham,"  bobs  up;  and  more  wonderful  still,  his  name,  also,  is 
Abraham  Enlow.  It  is  beyond  doubt  that  there  were  two 
Abraham  Enlows,  one  in  Kentucky  and  the  other  in  North 
Carolina.  This  fact  makes  perfect  harmony  between  the 
apparently  divergent  traditions  in  the  two  states. 

Three  Enlow  brothers  arrived  in  this  country  in  colonial 
times  from  England  and  Scotland,  and  the  descendants  of 
one  branch  settled  in  South  Carolina  and  afterwards  in 
Kentucky,  and,  in  looking  over  the  list  of  Christian  names 
among  them,  "Abraham,"  is  found  to  be  a  favorite  one. 
According  to  the  North  Carolina  tradition,  Nancy  Hanks 
and  her  son  by  the  North  Carolina  Abraham,  were  sent  by 
the  father  to  his  relatives  in  Kentucky,  where  they  were  well 
cared  for  until  the  mother  married  Linkhorn.  The  Enlow 
to  whom  they  were  sent  was  named  Abraham.  It  is  an 
established  fact  that  at  the  same  time  there  were  Hanks  in 
Kentucky.  So  far  there  is  no  discrepancy  between  the 
North  Carolina  and  Kentucky  traditions.  As  to  how  long 


14 

Xancy  Hanks  remained  with  the  Kentucky  Enlows  before 
she  married,  tradition  is  silent. 

XIII. 

The  North  Carolina  tradition  is  divergent  in  some  of  the 
details,  but  all  its  forms  agree  in  the  essential  points,  that 
Nancy  Hanks  was  a  member  of  Abraham  Enlow's  family,  in 
Buncombe  county,  in  the  first  decade  of  the  present  century 
in  the  capacity  of  servant  and  companion ;  that  she  bore  a 
child  to  Enlow,  which  was  named  Abraham,  after  him,  and 
that  to  quiet  the  irate  Mrs.  Enlow  the  father  sent  mother 
and  child  into  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Cathey  has  proved  the  existence  of  this  tradition  be 
yond  all  doubt.  He  gives  us  the  written  statement  of  a 
number  of  highly  respectable  persons  in  North  Carolina, 
Illinois,  Missouri  and  Texas,  who  remember  hearing  the 
story,  long  before  Mr.  Lincoln  had  risen  to  fame.  These 
statements  are  too  numerous  and  long  to  be  introduced  here. 
We  can  refer  to  a  few  of  them  only. 

XIV. 

Mr.  Phillip  Dills,  born  in  1808,  "and  still  nimble  in  body 
and  mind,"  remembers  hearing  the  story  talked  over  long 
before  the  civil  war. 

Walter  Battle,  born  in  1809,  says:  "I  distinctly  remem 
ber  hearing  my  own  family  tell  -of  the  trouble  between 
Abraham  Enlow  and  Nancy  Hanks,  when  I  was  a  boy." 

Wm.  H.  Conley,  born  in  1812,  says:  "I  remember  when 
I  was  a  lad,  on  one  occasion  some  of  the  women  of  the 
settlement  were  at  my  father's  house,  and  in  conversation 
with  my  mother,  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  some  trouble 
that  had  once  occurred  between  Abe  Enlow  and  a  girl,  they 
called  Xancy  Hanks."  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the 
memory  of  old  people  of  what  occurred  in  their  youth  is 
reliable. 

Captain  James  W.  Terrell,  of  Rutherford,  who  has  rep 
resented  his  county  in  the  legislature,  and  filled  other  of 
fices  of  honor  and  trust  says:  "I  then  began  to  inquire  into 
tin-  matter,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  arriving  at  the  following 
indisputable  facts,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  follou  in- 
<)!<!  people."  Among  the  old  people  to  whom  he  is  so  in 
debted,  he  gives  the  names  of  Dr.  John  Min^iis  and  his  wife. 


15 

the  daughter  of  Abraham  Enlow,  (both  deceased).  "The 
facts  arrived  at"  are  the  items  in  the  tradition  above  given 
with  the  additional  one  that  Nancy  Hanks  and  her  child 
were  removed  to  Kentucky  by  the  instrumentality  of  Hon. 
Felix  Walker,  then  member  of  Congress  from  the  Bun 
combe  district.  Captain  Terrellis  -reliable,  and  the  daughter 
of  Abraham  Enlow  ought  to  know. 

Joseph  A.  Collins  says,  that  in  1869,  he  was  in  Texas, 
where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Judge  Gilmore,  who 
lived  four  miles  from  Fort  Worth :  "He  told  me,"  says  Mr. 
Collins,  "he  knew  Nancy  Hanks  before  she  was  married, 
and  that  she  then  had  a  child  she  called  Abraham." 

Captain  Wm.  A.  Enlow,  grandson  of  Abraham  Enlow 
says :  "There  is  a  tradition  come  down  through  the  family 
that  Nancy  Hanks,  the  mother  of  President  Lincoln,  once 
lived  at  my  grandfather's,  and  while  there  became  the 
mother  of  a  child  said  to  be  my  grandfather,  Abraham 
Enlow's." 

Wesley  M.  Enlow,  son  of  Abraham,  born  in  1811,  and 
still  living  says :  "I  was  born  after  the  incident  between 
father  and  Nancy  Hanks.  I  have,  however,  a  vivid  recollec 
tion  of  hearing  the  name  of  Nancy  Hanks  frequently  men 
tioned  in  the  family  when  I  was  a  boy.  No,  I  never  heard 
my  father  mention  it;  he  was  always  silent  on  the  subject 

"Nancy  Hanks  lived  in  my  father's  family.  I  have  no 
so  far  as  I  know. 

doubt  the  cause  of  my  father  sending  her  to  Kentucky,  is 
the  one  generally  alleged.  The  occurrence  as  understood 
by  my  generation  and  given  to  them  by  that  of  my  father,  I 
have  no  doubt  is  essentially  true."  If  Nancy  Hanks  lived  at 
Abraham  Enlow 's  house,  there  was  at  least  the  opportunity. 

C.  A.  Ragland  is  a  citizen  of  Missouri,. and  an  attorney  at 
the  town  of  Stockton.  He  says,  that  about  twelve  years 
ago  he  called  on  Col.  T.  G.  C.  Davis  at  his  office  in  St. 
Louis.  Col.  Davis  was  a  relative  of  his  and  a  cousin  of 
Jefferson  Davis.  Col.  Davis  had  long  resided  in  Illinois, 
and  the  conversation  turning  on  the  men  and  the  times  of 
the  state,  he  said  he  was  intimately  acquainted  with  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  was  often  associated  with  him  as  well  as 
against  him  in  law  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court;  that 
they  were  members  of  the  constitutional  convention  and 


If, 

drafted  most  of  the  constitution.  He  said  that  he  knew  the 
mother  of  Lincoln,  was  raised  in  the  same  neighborhood  in 
Kentucky,  and  that  it  was  generally  understood,  without 
question  in  that  neighborhood,  that  Lincoln,  the  man  who 
married  the  President's  mother,  was  not  the  father  of  the 
President,  but  that  the  father's  name  was  Knlow. 

XV. 

This  is  the  Kentucky  tradition,  and  the  Kentucky  Enlow. 
The  North  Carolina  tradition  agrees  with  it  in  its  allega 
tion  that  Xancy  Hanks  lived  with  the  Kentucky  Enlow. 
The  Kentucky  tradition,  as  we  have  seen,  ascribes  the 
paternity  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  to  the  Kentucky  Enlow,  the  man 
with  whom  Thomas  Linkhorn  had  the  desperate  fight. 

The  names,  residences,  and  ages  of  these  and  other  wit 
nesses  are  all  given ;  also  their  occupations  and  a  sketch  of 
their  lives,  and  ample  proof  that  they  are  intelligent  and 
honest  and  in  every  way  worthy  of  belief. 

XVI. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  how  could  such  a  trivial 
event,  happening  between  obscure  parties,  in  the  wilderness 
of  the  Smokey  Mountains,  and  among  a  rude  people,  be 
thought  worthy  of  perpetuation  by  tradition. 

I  hit  Abraham  Enlow  was  not  an  obscure  man.  He  was 
remarkable  for  vigor,  both  of  mind  and  body.  He  migrate'd 
from  Rutherford  to  the  Ocona  Lufta  in  Buncombe  county, 
carrying  his  family,  household  goods  and  live  stock,  making 
much  of  his  way  by  Indian  trails,  and  cutting  out  a  road 
through  the  tangled  wilderness  of  the  mountain  slopes. 

Some  of  his  ancestors  had  been  teachers,  and  he  had  been 
taught  the  English  rudiments.  He  became  one  of  the  great 
men  in  the  then  great  area  of  the  county,  and  the  foremost 
personage  in  his  own  neighborhood.  He  was  the  richest 
man  in  the  settlement  and  by  far  the  most  intelligent  and 
enterprising.  He  waggoned  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  and 
Augusta,  Ga.,  and  brought  back  salt,  powder,  and  other 
articles  necessary  for  pioneers.  He  farmed  and  raised  live 
stock  for  distant  markets.  He  traded  in  slaves  as  far  as 
Florida.  Upon  one  occasion  he  brought  home  twenty  which 
he  had  purchased.  He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace;  had  a 
blacksmith  shop  and  other  useful  apparatus ;  was  an  inti 
mate  friend  of  the  Hon.  Eclix  Walker  of  "Buncombe." 


fame  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  settled  difficul 
ties  ;  people  came  to  him  for  advice  on  all  kinds  of  matters. 
It  is  impossible  for  the  present  generation  to  form  an  ade 
quate  conception  of  the  baronial  influence  and  power 
wielded  by  such  a  man  as  Abraham  Enlow.  The  people 
recognized  him  as  their  counselor  and  friend,  a  sort  of  Oom 
Paul,  and  cheerfully  submitted  to  his  decisions.  Such  a 
man  would  be  talked  about  in  the  neighborhood.  Especially 
would  the  women  of  the  settlement,  whose  only  recreation 
and  amusement  was  gossip,  delight  in  repeating  over  and 
over  again  the  story  of  the  great  Abraham  Enlow  and  the 
pretty  and  erring  Nancy  Hanks. 

XVII. 

Two  additional  arguments  are  introduced  to  support  the 
tradition.  Abraham  Enlow  is  said  by  those  who  knew  him 
to  have  been  tall,  lean,  lank,  rawboned,  wiry,  and  with  a  re 
markable  length  of  limbs,  hands  and  fingers.  The  descrip 
tion  of  the  personal  appearance  of  Wesley  Enlow,  his  son, 
in  form  and  structure,  exactly  fits  Mr.  Lincoln  in  every  par 
ticular. 

Not  only  is  a  resemblance  claimed  in  the  make  up  of  the 
body,  but  also  of  facial  features  and  expression.  There 
are  a  number  of  portraits  of  the  Enlow  family.  There  is  no 
portrait  of  the  original  Abraham  and  that  of  his  son, 
Wesley,  was  taken  in  his  eighty-eight  year.  Many  persons 
think  they  see  a  striking  resemblance  between  his  face  and 
that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  There  are  others  who  think  they 
see  such  a  striking  resemblance  between  the  features,  ex 
pression  and  peculiar  set  of  the  head  of  Robert  Walker 
Enlow,  son  of  Wesley,  and  the  corresponding  features  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  that  they  ground  their  belief  in  the  truth  of  the 
tradition  upon  this  alone  without  further  evidence. 

XVIII. 

Bastard.    Madam,    I    was    not   old    Sir   Robert's    son; 
Sir  Robert  could  not  do  it,  we  know  his  handiwork ; 
Therefore,  good  mother,  to  whom  am  I  beholden  for  these 

limbs? 

Sir  Robert  never  holp  to  make  this  leg. 
Lady  Falconbridge.     King  Richard  Coeur     de     Lion 
was  thy  father ; 


i8 


Bastard.    With  all  my  heart  I  thank  thee  for  my  father ; 
Who  lives  and  dares  but  say  thou  didst  not  well, 
When  I  was  got,  I'll  send  his  soul  to  hell. 

— Shakespeare's  King  John. 


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